Abergavenny - Caenarfon

Wales Travel Blog

Headed off at 8.30am and headed through farmland to Hay ��" on ��" Wye, a small village famous for it's second hand bookshops one of which is the largest in the world. Stopped here for an hour and had a cup of coffee and a wander around, bought a couple of small books and some food.

Our next stop was a monument to the last Welsh prince Llywelyn ap Gruffyd.

The large stone monument stands close to where his party was ambushed and he was beheaded and his head washed in a nearby well in 1282. Quite an eerie place!

We headed up to Elan Valley for lunch which was a beautiful valley at the foot of a Dam surrounded by large cliffs covered in Heather in bloom. There was an information centre and café there as well as the Dam houses and a stone sculpture.

Mountain river

Wandered about and took photos and had lunch.

After travelling up rolling hills in Snowdonia National park we stopped at a couple of lookouts, one over a stunning lake and the other over the valley from Mount Snowdon, Wales's highest peak.

The last stop before heading North to our overnight stay was Castell ��" Y ��" Bere. The castle is in a valley on the top of a mound and is just a ruin but has a great history. Our guide told us the story of how the Welsh flag originated from here when a young Merlin was sent to kill one of the underworld dragons who was preventing the castle from being completed. The remaining dragon was the red dragon which is on the Welsh flag.

We had to take a bit of a detour because of a road fatality so were a couple of hours late getting to our stopover.

We carried on up to Caernarfon where our hostel was within the Caernarfon castle walls on the coast. Got settled in our rooms before heading out for some Gammon and eggs in the pub overlooking the bay. Chatted, had a drink and took some photos of the castle before heading to bed for an early night.